State Supreme Court upholds death penalty for arsonist who set Esparanza Fire killing five firefighters near Cabazon
Jesus Reyes
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. (KESQ) – The man convicted of starting a fire near Cabazon that killed five firefighters will remain on death row, after the California Supreme Court ruling published Monday found no validity to his arguments challenging procedural and other aspects of his trial.
Raymond Lee Oyler, 54, of Beaumont, was sentenced to death for starting the Esparanza Fire in October 2006. He was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder, 19 counts of arson and 16 counts of possessing incendiary devices.
The California Supreme Court conducted the automatic appeal of the 2009 sentence, with a majority of the Justices upholding the sentence on Monday.
“We conclude that the cumulative effect of these assumed errors does not warrant a reversal (of the death sentence),” according to the unanimous seven-judge decision. “We conclude the defendant is not entitled to relief on appeal.”
Oyler’s appeal focused on virtually every facet of his trial, challenging the fact he was not granted a change of venue due to publicity potentially prejudicing proceedings locally, the fact his trial judge was switched less than a year before the case went to a jury, the nature of prospective jurors’ responses to questionnaires, the qualifications of his lead attorney, inadequate evaluation of defense evidence and the prosecution’s use of autopsy photos.
“We find the evidence sufficient to support all of the defendant’s convictions,” the Supreme Court stated in its 162-page decision.
The Esparanza Fire was ignited near the intersection of Esperanza Avenue and Almond Way, just south of Cabazon, in the middle of the night, during a Santa Ana windstorm. The fire spread the mountain communities of Poppet Flats, Silent Valley and Twin Pines, ultimately burning 41,173 acres, destroying 45 homes and structures. The fire also damaged a highway before it was stopped four days later. The cost of firefighting and property destruction totaled roughly $100 million.
Five firefighters were killed five firefighters who were defending a home near Twin Pines., U.S. Forest Service Capt. Mark Allen Loutzenhiser, 43, and firefighters Pablo Cerda, 24, Jason Robert McKay, 27, Jess Edward McLean, 27, and Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20.
Along with Esperanza, Oyler had lit at least two dozen other blazes from May to October 2006. However, none of those resulted in significant property damage
The man who prosecuted Oyler, now-District Attorney Mike Hestrin, described him at the time as “obsessed with fire and a fascination with starting a fire and watching it burn.”
“The enormous loss of what happened is something I carry with me,” Hestrin told City News Service on the 15th anniversary of the blaze. “It was a tough case for the community and the families involved. Those five lives were cut short. I still think about the fact that those firemen went up into that inferno, and everybody else was going down to get away. It’s such a symbol of how they were protectors.”
Testimony showed Oyler had developed a technique of creating so-called “layover” incendiary devices, binding stick and paper matches together with rubber bands, affixing debris to them, then flinging them into brushy places to trigger fires.
Hestrin said Oyler wanted to “see that mountain burn” when he lit the Esperanza blaze.
“You can go back and find the incendiary device left there by Ray Oyler, and it leads to the death of those men — directly,” Hestin told jurors.
As of April, Oyler was one of 588 inmates on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison.
Courtesy: Wellton Fire Department
